Image is of a large protest in the Ivory Coast, sourced from this article in People's Dispatch.
This week's megathread is based largely on a detailed article from People's Dispatch, featuring statements and analysis from Achy Ekessi, the General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Ivory Coast (PCRCI), brought to my attention by @jack@hexbear.net's comment in the last megathread.
The president of Ivory Coast, the 83 year old Alassane Ouattara, is aiming for a fourth term in power while barring out much of the opposition. I can't really do the all the history of how the situation wound up this way justice in a preamble as it's fairly complicated (read the article if you are interested), but to summarize, Ouattara is currently the only coherent candidate for the French to support. Back in 2011, the French helped Ouattara overthrow the previous (pan-Africanist) president, Laurent Gbagbo, and then arrested him and sent him to the ICC, and he was then acquitted and released in 2021.
Gbagbo is now running against Ouattara, but his base, the working class, has large swathes that are not present on the voting rolls and so it would be unlikely for him to win. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Tidjane Thiam, a former CEO of the Swiss Bank Credit Suisse, whose base is in the richer strata of the Ivory Coast, which overlaps with Ouattara's base. He would be more likely to win, but would certainly maintain many Western imperialist relationships. Ouattara, however, has simplified the electoral situation by simply barring both of them from running in the election at all.
Ouattara has, on paper, delivered some amount of economic development to the Ivory Coast. But as expected, most of it is funnelled to the bourgeois, as well as to foreign corporations and governments, while the working class are swallowed by the cost of living crisis. There has been significant infrastructure projects, but these have not only generated massive debt, they also have only really addressed the damage caused by the 2011 civil war and intervention by the French.
The rest of Western Africa has either entirely exited the orbit of France (Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso), are wavering/unstable (Senegal, Benin, Guinea), are beginning to show doubts (Nigeria, Ghana), or are economically weak enough to not be a major blow for the French to lose (Togo, Guinea-Bissau). The loss of the Ivory Coast would be a major setback for French neocolonialism, and be a potent example to nearby countries.
Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
Israel's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
๐ข Hamas: โ In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
On World Humanitarian Day:
We call for exerting maximum pressure on the occupation to open the crossings and stop the crime of genocide and starvation against more than two million Palestinians, and to compel it to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
World Humanitarian Day, commemorated by the United Nations and countries worldwide on August 19th of each year, arrives amidst the ongoing war of genocide and starvation that the zionist occupation continues to escalate against more than two million Palestinians for over 22 months; during which more than 61,000 martyrs have fallen, most of them children and women, while approximately 40,000 children have become orphans, and 23,000 women have become widows. The number of victims of famine and malnutrition has also risen to 235 martyrs, including 106 children.
Amidst the disregard of war criminal Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court, and his zionazi government for UN resolutions and international community calls to halt their aggression and criminality against unarmed civilians, and their insistence on preventing the entry of medicines and medical supplies with the aim of destroying the health sector in Gaza, we, the Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas, on World Humanitarian Day, affirm the following:
First: It is no longer acceptable for states, governments, and organizations to merely issue statements of condemnation and denunciation in the face of the zionist occupation's criminality, which violates all values, norms, and laws; rather, what is required is to activate efforts to stop the aggression and genocide, prosecute the occupation leaders, especially the criminal Netanyahu, bring them to international justice, and isolate this entity that threatens international peace and security.
Second: The American administration bears direct responsibility for the repercussions of preventing aid entry and the continuation of the policy of starvation, killing, and humiliation through the "inhumane Gaza institution" imposed by the occupation government with American cover.
Third: The international community's celebration of this World Day places it, states, governments, and organizations, before a political, legal, ethical, and humanitarian responsibility to compel the fascist occupation government to immediately stop its aggression and crimes of genocide and starvation, and to force it to allow humanitarian aid into the entire Gaza Strip.
Fourth: We commend the efforts of the humanitarian and relief teams from our people and their institutions in the Gaza Strip, who provide their services despite the bombing, killing, and destruction, and we strongly condemn the systematic crimes committed by the fascist occupation government against them, in desperate attempts to prevent them from performing their humanitarian duty.
Fifth: We call upon the United Nations and its various institutions, and Arab, Islamic, and international organizations working in humanitarian and relief fields, to intensify their work and programs in the Gaza Strip, raise their voice against the zionist prevention, restriction, and targeting, and reject all attempts by the occupation to circumvent international relief protocols through criminal mechanisms designed to kill and abuse our people.
Islamic Resistance Movement โ Hamas
Tuesday: 25 Safar 1447 AH Corresponding to: August 19, 2025 AD
https://t.me/PalestineResist